20 Subway Facts That May Surprise You

With more than 44,000 locations across 110 countries, Subway is the world’s largest fast-food franchise. Since its birth in 1965 as a small sub shop, the sandwich king has grown into a corporate giant, one with an interesting history, to say the least.

Subway serves 5,300 sandwiches every minute.

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Subway serves about 5,300 sandwiches every 60 seconds, which is roughly 320,000 sandwiches every hour.

Or think of it like this: 7.6 million subs every day, Business Insider reported in 2014. That’s enough to feed every person in Los Angeles, Dallas and Chicago combined.

The BMT was named after an actual subway.

Subway was started by a 17-year-old boy.

Subway hosted a fashion show.

Subway made its debut in the fashion industry in 2013, when it launched “Project Subway,” a New York City fashion show and competition challenging up-and-coming designers to create Subway-inspired designs.

In 2014, designers were instructed to create garments “inspired by vegetables found at Subway restaurants.” In the year prior, the task was to create pieces out of sandwich wrappers, napkins and gift cards.

Subway was sued for selling 11-inch foot-long subs.

Subway bread used to share an ingredient used to make yoga mats.

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The company may have been fooling us all with its “Eat Fresh” slogan.

Although it is FDA-approved, the ingredient azodicarbonamide, a chemical commonly used in yoga mats, shoe rubber and synthetic leather, was found in the sandwich chain's bread products. Subway phased out the ingredient by mid-2014 after a backlash.

Theres not much difference calories wise between Subway and McDonald's.

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A 2012 study conducted by UCLA and other research centers found that kids and young adults (ages 12 to 21) consumed roughly the same amount of calories eating a meal at Subway or McDonald's. They ultimately overate at both. Calorie counts were based off of the nutritional information provided on each company’s website.

The study also revealed that on average, McDonald’s sandwiches tend to be less caloric than Subway’s (572 vs. 784 calories).